, 1887-06-14
The BLOODHOUND MYTH.
They Were Never Used by Slave Holders
for Tracking Negroes


They Were Never Used by Slave Holders
fer Trucking Negroes.
alt is strange how long the world will
stick to an error, especially If it be either
romantic or sympathetic in its tendency.
l reckon everybody who has read Uncle
Toms Cabin remembers especially If
they were young at the time) how ap-
palling to the imagination were the blood
hounds employed to track the poor run
aways. This bloodhound myth has lived
uncontradicted until now. Only the
other day l read a terrible story of q fugi-
tive in the Dismal Swamp country of Vir-
ginia, who ran away (of before
the war; and was hunted with blood
hounds, etc.
The truth of the matter was that
bloodhounds were never used in the
south for pursuing runaway negroes, or
for any other purpose. / have no idea
that there has been a real bloodhound in
the state of Virginia for fifty years. A
cross of the common foxhound and ST.
berian dog has long been popularity
known and confounded with the true
Spanish bloodhound, and these brutes
nave been exhibited at dog shows as the
old time slave tracking bloodhounds,' to
the great terror and awe of the guileless
spectator.
The dogs used in tracking negroes
whenever any were used-were the ordi-
nary hounds of the south. such as were
trained for deer driving, bear hunting or
wild hog shooting. II well trained, they
viii track anything that goes on legs,
and will hunt up a white nan or negro
as readily as they will pursue the ma
rauding coon, or his great brother, tho
black bear. still found in the mountains
of the Carolinas, Virginia or Tennessee,
common in the swamps and canebrakes
of Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, and
abundant in the immense brakes On up
per Rcd river, and those that occupy
most OF the region between the White
and st. Francis rivers, in Arkansas, par
ticularly in the section known as The
DEVILS Summer Retreat about fifty
miles from the mouth of the White, i'm
mortalizel in Porter's famous story Of
Bob Herring, the Bear Hunter, printed
in the old Spirit nearly fifty years ago.
The only bloodhounds that ever came
into Louisiana or Mississippi were I'M
ported from Cuba in 1S45 by q wealthy
gentleman who owned large estates in the
parish of Tensas, Louisiana, and In Clai-
bourne county, Mississippi, who, by the
way, was a friend, pupil and distant rela-
tive of the eminent Republican statesman
from Maine. There were three couples
of these dogs. and 1t was thought they
might increase the keenness of scent of
the hound of the period by crossing the
breed. The experiment. however, worked
disastrously. After acquiring o pack in
two or three years time, Mr.. Gillespie
took them out for trial. They had not
far to 60 before thoy struck the fresh
trail Of an old he bear of aldermanic pro-
portions, who was making his usual
morning trip to the plantation cornfield,
where he had fed ever since he was a cub.
No corpulent old gentleman. peacefully
going from his house to his club, could
have been more astonished at an assault
from tramps than was the old bear 1
speak of. Finally, realizing the situation,
he backed up against a cypress, and killed
five of the dogs in less time than a wiry
terrier would kill tho same number OF
rats. The owner of the dogs had not ex-
pected to put up n bear SO near, and was
without q gun. The improved dogs, in
stead Of swapping at the bear and letting
go when he turned on them, as well
trained bear dogs do, just caught hold
and held on, with tho consequences mem
toned. 1t ended the importation Of
bloodhounds, and the deer and bear hunt
ers of Louisiana and Mississippi concluded
they would let their breed of dogs be as
they were, and not introduce any more
foreign innovations. "-Washington Cor.
Courier-Journal.